Nichole D’Antonio does not know how Judicial Affairs found out about her relapse in recovery.

D’Antonio, senior English major, met with a counselor from the Counseling Center in January of 2005 because of an eating disorder and confided to the counselor of a relapse.

She said during her next meeting with the counselor, the counselor told her that she was beyond the center’s help, and that she would have to sign a medical withdrawal.

After a professor defended D’Antonio and met with Sandy Cox, director of the Counseling Center, on Feb. 16, 2005, Judicial Affairs offered D’Antonio a behavioral contract for her eating disorder instead of a medical withdrawal on Feb. 23, 2005, which she signed.

D’Antonio said Feb. 23 was the first time she ever met with Judicial Affairs, and the contract had been specifically written for her disorder the day it was offered.

“I’m not sure how Judicial Affairs found out about it,” D’Antonio said of her relapse.

Eastern has a confidentiality agreement that is similar to other schools in the state.

Confidentiality agreements can be broken several ways at Eastern. Waiver agreements, the threat of imminent danger, and the need to seek legal advice from Eastern’s University Counsel are a few of the ways confidentiality can be broken, according to the Counseling Center’s Privacy Policy.

Dan Nadler, vice president for student affairs, said imminent danger is defined as health and safety or security issues involving harm to self or others.

Cox said, when imminent danger is used, the student is notified that it is being enacted.

“When we deal with imminent danger, there is no reason for us to be talking to Judicial Affairs,” Cox said. “When we are overseeing confidentiality with that, it is more so we are dealing with parental notification. It might be, at times, Health Service, when we need medical intervention right away.”

With D’Antonio’s situation, it is unclear if the center violated confidentiality.

D’Antonio said imminent danger was never mentioned to her.

D’Antonio also signed a waiver agreement allowing the center to talk to Judicial Affairs on Feb. 17.

The professor, who met with Cox on Feb. 16 (who wants to remain anonymous), said Cox mentioned how she met with Eastern’s University Counsel prior to Feb. 16.

The professor added Cox did not mention why she met with the counsel.

Heather Webb, director of Judicial Affairs, said there is also a group of administrators who meet on Mondays to talk about concerning behaviors to the university.

“Through all of those consultations, we make a lot of decisions on who might be appropriate for behavioral contracts as opposed to who may not be appropriate for a behavioral contract,” Webb said.

Nadler said the group could consist of a representative from Judicial Affairs, the Counseling Center, Health Service and residence life, but it depends on the type of behavior.

He added the group does not violate confidentiality because specific information about a case is not discussed.

“It’s talking generally about the behavior,” Nadler said. “It’s specifically about the behavior in the context of a confidential conversation.”

Nadler, Webb and Cox cannot comment specifically on D’Antonio’s situation because of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

Like Eastern, Western Illinois University also uses imminent danger to break confidentiality.

“Each situation is unique and the decision to break confidentiality is made on a case-by-case base by gathering as much factual information as possible,” said Jim DiTulio, director of the Counseling Center at Western Illinois University. “Confidentiality will be broken if it is determined there is a high probability a person will engage in behaviors that will seriously harm himself or others.”

Illinois State, The University of Illinois and Southern Illinois University also have policies that enable them to break confidentiality if there is a threat of imminent danger.

At Western, DiTulio has the final decision on whether a student poses an imminent danger to themselves or others.

“As director, I am responsible for the final decision and this decision is based on the judgment of my clinical staff,” he said.

-Nora Maberry, Associate Online Editor, contributed to this report